Winter, 2000
Friends of OA Newsletter

Message from Rick Curtis

Each summer as Labor Day approaches most people were getting
ready for the last long weekend of summer. My thoughts, however, were focused on
the Frosh Trip. A whole year had gone by and it was time to launch another one.
It started with the arrival of more than 190 OA student leaders and support
staff. Friends excitedly talking about their summers as they go through refresher
training in first aid and camping skills, meetings with co-leaders, route briefings
on trip areas, and equipment and food distribution. The anticipation grew each
day awaiting the arrival of the Class of 2004. It all peaked on Saturday afternoon with
all of the leaders sitting on the floor at Dillon Gym and cheering as the new
students streamed into the gym. Another Frosh Trip launched.

If you think back, you may remember your freshmen year and walking in to
a gym full of people you didn't know thinking, "what am I doing here?" At the end
of that week you may not have been able to answer that question, but you felt like
you weren't the only one and you had a group of good friends and fond memories to
help you get through those first few weeks or months of school. You may also
remember the other side, sitting on the floor in Dillon next to a sign that read BF26
or some other trip number, anxiously awaiting the arrival of ten frosh and
thinking about what you were going to do to give them a tremendous week in the
wilderness.

Each year my strongest memory is when the buses roll back in and hordes
of dirty students pile out, some with warpaint on their faces, cheering
about how great a trip they had. When the last bus pulls in and the very last group
hikes back to their rooms and a shower I head home and get a good nights sleep.
Until next year.

Rick Curtis '79 - Director, Outdoor Action

OA Receives Endowment Gift for Frosh Trip Grants

Kevin Callaghan '83 (right) and Page Thompson '83 on the summit in the southern
alps in New Zealand.

We are excited to announce a very special gift to Outdoor Action from Kevin
Callaghan '83. This generous gift establishes the Kevin Callaghan '83 Fund an
endowed fund to provide financial support each year to allow needy students
to participate in the Frosh Trip Program.

Kevin did not begin his involvement with the
outdoors until after Princeton. The summer after graduation was
his first hiking trip with two Class of '83 friends to the Swiss
Alps. The physical aspect of hiking, the camaraderie, and the
beauty of the mountains was a totally new experience for Kevin
and he "got the bug" as so many of us have. Two years later
an Outward Bound course in North Carolina cemented his
commitment to the outdoors and outdoor education. As soon
as he returned from Outward Bound he "stopped at EMS
and bought everything under the sunpack, tent, sleeping
bag, stove, Thermarest" on his way out of town to start
graduate school at Stanford. While at Stanford Kevin backpacked
and hiked extensively in the Sierras, Yosemite, and Sequoia
National Parks. He has hiked or climbed with many '83'ers:
Brian McDonald, Page Thompson, Jeff and Cynthia Penney,
Bill Hallett, Kris Bower Schulte, and Nan Gillespie O'Connell,
all "providing some of my fondest memories."

On talking about his gift he said, "I wish I had been able to take advantage
of all that OA has to offer while I was a student. Getting introduced to the
outdoors while I was in college would have been wonderful. In particular, I
wish I had gone on the Frosh Trip--on the margin, it wasn't readily affordable
and I didn't feel I had the right level of experience." Many students on
financial aid find it hard to participate in the Frosh Trip because of the cost
of the program and the need to purchase equipment combined with the loss of
a week of summer job earnings. Kevin's gift will help make this wonderful opportunity
available for many students who otherwise would not be able to afford to participate.
Here is what one participant had to say about this year's Frosh Trip.

I want to thank you and the Scott Scholarship for making it possible for
me to attend the Outdoor Action Program. As a first time camper/backpacker,
my outdoor experience was a fantastic introduction to the joys of nature.
The memories of the trip will stay with me for years to come. The trip has
also inspired me to create more memories by traveling on future excursions.

In addition to the gorgeous scenery I witnessed, I have come away with
a group of close friends that carry me through a sea of unfamiliar faces.
My leaders and group members are all exciting individuals that came together
to create an extended family. Without OA, these friendships would not
be enriching my Princeton experience.

The Kevin Callaghan '83 Fund will complement the
Zander Scott '92 Fund and significantly expand our ability to aid
incoming students. Each year the interest from the
Callaghan endowment fund will support more than twenty-five
incoming frosh. Kevin's gift is the largest individual gift
Outdoor Action has received. We all extend our appreciation to
Kevin for his generous gift to future generations of Frosh Trip
participants.

OA in the News

You may have seen the wonderful "On the Campus"
piece by Emily Johnson '01 in the October 18 issue of the
Princeton Alumni Weekly. There was also an article about
Wilderness Orientation Trips that appeared in the Christian Science
Monitor which is available at (www.csmonitor.com/durable/2000/09/19/fp16s1-csm.shtml). Alex Rawson '01, another OA Frosh Trip Leader and leader trainer, wrote the following piece
for PAW Online.

How Outdoor Action sets the tone for the Princeton experience
by Alex Rawson '01, From PAW Online Oct. 11, 2000

Frosh Trip 2000 - sunshine and smiles

One hundred, forty-eight upperclassmen sit in groups of twos and threes, pounding
the floor in Dillon Gym and chanting "Freshmen! Freshmen!" while 583
members of the Class of 2004 stand huddled nervously outside the entrance.

Then suddenly, without warning, the freshmen are
ushered into the gym to meet their leaders for the Outdoor
Action trip upon which they are about to embark. I
remember the feeling when I was a freshman, and now I can see the
same fear, bewilderment, and uncertainty stamped openly upon
the face of quite nearly every person entering the gym.

It is a fear of newness, it is a fear of the stereotypes
that each of them holds about Princeton, and most of all it is
a fear of not fitting in at a place they can not yet call home.
While these fears and uncertainties are quite natural and
are in most cases probably even productive, in too many
cases they are manifested in character changes on campus.
Over the past four years I have watched far too many
freshmen change, or worse, ignore, their fundamental values in the
belief that they have to behave a certain way in order to fit in
at Princeton.

Some people simply drink more, others see study
habits suffer, and priorities shift altogether too fast. And I'm
sure this has been true of freshmen for decades. But it is
nevertheless a scary and undesirable transformationespecially if
students change their identity only because they believe
they have to.

Outdoor Action, begun in 1974, works to preempt
that change by easing freshmen into the transition to college.
While OA runs a variety of outdoor trips year round under the
guidance of program director Rick Curtis '79, by far its largest
and farthest reaching is the annual frosh trip. The frosh trip
sends groups of eight to 10 freshmen into the wilderness with
two or three upperclass leaders, where in the often
uncomfortable crucible of the outdoors, trip participants drop
their guards and their artifices and openly face their concerns
about Princeton.

OA, which since its inception has grown to nearly
600 participants (more than half the freshmen class) and
more than 140 leaders annually, is the very first contact that
freshmen have with Princeton, and ultimately serves as the
first real step in the orientation process. As a consequence,
OA plays two complementary roles for its frosh.

First, each freshman develops seven or eight new
friendships that make campus a much more comfortable place
to be once school officially begins. One recent participant
explains, "The [trip] was helpful to me in that it lessened
my fears about the social scene at Princeton - getting to
know nine wonderfully interesting and caring people."

Second, freshmen on Outdoor Action trips have the
opportunity to hear upperclassmen respond to their fears
about college, in most cases alleviating them. "I had already in
a sense oriented myself to Princeton life through my
leaders' guidance," writes another recent participant, "and I felt
that my adjustment to campus life was that much smoother."

Spending close to six days in the woods, facing
challenges together, and forming bonds through mutual hardship,
freshmen return to campus feeling more confident about
Princeton and more comfortable with the way they fit in.

In many cases freshmen return bolstered by the knowledge that they can continue
to be the same person they have always been and still find a niche on campus.
And that knowledge, which prevents the kind of radical personality changes described
above, is invaluable.

The university administration spends considerable time and money focusing
on ways to curb alcohol abuse and to improve student life, but administrative
edicts and even programs that are merely viewed as administrative pet projects
are often unwelcome and rarely achieve results.

The frosh trip, on the other hand, simply by
promoting self-awareness and self-confidence, already does on many
levels what the administration is trying to accomplish both
in terms of alcohol and in terms of basic freshman
orientation, and it does so without ever being didactic or
condescending. As a result, the university would do well to invest in
expanding the Outdoor Action program.

Each year OA impacts hundreds of students in profound ways that effect the
rest of their college experience and beyond. You can read more of the comments
from leaders and participants at (www.princeton.edu/~oa/reports/quotes.shtml)

New Vice President of Campus Life Welcomes the Class of 2004

We were very pleased to have Janet Dickerson, the
new Vice President of Campus Life join us on Saturday
September 2 to welcome 583 incoming Frosh as they paraded into
Dillon Gym to cheers and applause from OA leaders inside.
Janet was impressed with the shear size of the program and
its positive impact both on incoming students and on OA
Leaders.

Janet comes to Princeton from Duke University and is
a strong proponent of outdoor and experiential education.
In July, Friends of OA Board members, current students and
OA Director Rick Curtis met with Janet to talk with her about
OA and the positive role it plays on campus. Janet was very
quick to grasp the impact that the Leader Training Program has
on students both while at Princeton and afterwards. We are
all extremely excited to have Janet at Princeton as a strong
ally for Outdoor Action.

Joe Palmer '84 Memorial Fund Grows to $28,000

We are climbing upward in our goal to build a new
Climbing Wall for OA. Thanks to a generous gift from the
Tom Kissinger '84 and the Kissinger Family Foundation along
with our earlier gifts from John McNerney '84 and other
members of Joe's class we now have $28,000 towards a new wall.
The technology for building climbing walls has changed
dramatically from when OA built one of the first University
Climbing Walls back in 1983 and we have begun contacting
different companies for information and pricing on construction.

We expect the project to go in stages. Stage 1 will be
to replace the existing Wall in the Armory with a
state-of-the-art wall of the same square footage. The building technology
we use will be modular and allow us to move the Wall to a
new home when the Armory is eventually torn down. Cost
per square foot ranges from $25 - $70 depending on the type
of construction. Our current Wall is 1,000 square feet so our
fund raising goal for Stage 1 is roughly $40,000. Thanks to the
generous donations from the Class of '84 we are well on our
way towards raising the funds for Stage 1.

Stage 2 will take place once we move to a new location where our goal is to
double the amount of climbing space by incorporating the modular wall as part
of a new larger climbing structure. The plan is to expand the current number
of climbing lanes from 8 to 16 which means 32 people (with belayers) can use
the Wall at one time. We have begun the long conversation with the University
about the need for a permanent home for the Wall after the Armory is torn down.
For more information on how to contribute to the Joe Palmer '84 Fund jump to
(www.princeton.edu/~oa/alumni/campaign/funds.shtml)

Frosh Trip 2000 - Pushing the Envelope & Building Community

Outdoor Action has always been about searching for
new ways to help people learn in the outdoor setting. This
year, continuing the efforts begun on Frosh Trip '99 we added
a day of pre-Frosh Trip training for OA Leaders entitled
"Building Community." The training, designed by OA Board
member Philo (Warren) Elmer '69 and others focused on the
role that leaders play in helping to shape frosh's first
experience of Princeton. Through a day of experiential activities,
group games, role plays and discussions, leaders examined
carefully the impact they have as role models for their frosh. A
group of dedicated Princetonians and OA alumni came back to
facilitate small groups of leaders including: Chris Beeson
'99, Andy Brown '69, Philo Elmer '69, John Gager Faculty,
Jim Garrett '65, Laura Hardiman '99, Melissa Lockman '98,
Spencer Reynolds '92, Ed Seliga '75, Chris Shephard '98, and
Mark Wiranowski '95 .

One of the things that made this training day so special was the alumni facilitators
who knew about Princeton and OA and were able to guide leaders through some
important discussions. We want to make this an annual part of Frosh Trip Training
and are looking for alumni leaders who would be willing to come back next year
and help just prior to the Frosh Trip ( August 29-30, 2001). If you would be
interested, please email Rick at email Outdoor Action or indicate this on your Friends of OA membership form.

John Danielson '58 retires from Blairstown

Those
of us who were involved in the early days of Outdoor Action and Blairstown in
the 70's remember a tall, lanky figure whose passion and optimistic enthusiasm
for experiential education and building community has been transforming the
lives of people for forty years. John Danielson began in the Financial Aid Office
at Princeton University in 1960. He joined the Dean of Students Office in 1968
working primarily with student groups. In 1971 John shifted his job responsibilities
to work half-time in the Dean's Office and half-time for Blairstown as the program
continued to expand. In 1972 John became the first full-time Executive Director
of Blairstown and held that position through 1979. During that time he facilitated
Blairstown's transition from a summer camp to a year-round outdoor education
center and was instrumental in the early formation of Outdoor Action. John returned
to Princeton in 1989 to work for the University Development Office. He became
the Director of Development for Blairstown in 1992. John has been a mentor and
role model for many of us through the years. Outdoor Action, Princeton-Blairstown
Center, and Princeton University are hosting a retirement celebration for John
in December. We have put up a special Web page where you can send in your best
wishes, comments, memories and stories about John for inclusion in a memory
book that we will give him at the celebration. You can access it on the Web
and read other people's comments at our new Alumni Interaction Site (www.oa.princeton.edu/alumni/comments/)

OA Frosh Trip Video

Throughout this fall's Frosh Trip an ever-present person was Martha Otis with
her digital video camera. Martha is the videographer for the Program in Theater
and Dance at Princeton. She generously volunteered her time to film a video
of the Frosh Trip. Martha's footage includes leader training before the Frosh
Trip, the arrival of the Frosh at Dillon Gym, departure on Sunday, the Outdoor
Adventure trips at Blairstown, and groups hiking and rock climbing in the Water
Gap. The video will also contain interviews of students and OA Leaders as well
as Friends of OA board members. The goal is to edit all six hours of footage
down to a 10-15 minute video. The video will be used as a recruitment piece
for incoming students as well as an educational piece for University administrators
and potential donors. We look forward to being able to show the video at Reunions
next spring.

Friends of OA Membership & Gifts

We want to thank all of you who have generously
donated to Outdoor Action over the past year. Our goal is to
become the best University outdoor program in the country. To do
so means providing leaders with the very best training,
participants with the best equipment and having excellent
facilities. Your annual dues go to support the day to day operation
of the OA program. Endowment gifts are part of a special
account for Outdoor Action that exists within the
University's investment portfolio. Each year we receive about 4%
interest from the endowment while the remaining interest is
reinvested in the principal. Endowment gifts provide us with the
security of a long-term funding source. Gifts can be used for
specific purposes like the Joe Palmer '84 Fund for the
Climbing Wall or the Zander Scott '92 Fund for Frosh Trip
Scholarships or as general endowment funding for the program. All gifts
to OA are considered fully tax-deductible gifts to Princeton
University.

OA 25th Anniversary Report on the Web - Add your comments & stories

Last year's celebration of OA's 25th Anniversary was both a time to look back
at our accomplishments and look ahead to our future. Our rich history has been
summarized in the OA 25th Anniversary Report which is available on the Web (www.princeton.edu/~oa/alumni/25report.shtml).
You can add your thoughts about why OA is an important part of Princeton and
read what others have to say at our Alumni Comments Web Page (oa.princeton.edu/alumni/comments/).

Notes from the Trailhead

Here is the latest news from OA friends across the country. Send us your stories
on your Friends of OA membership form or on the Web (oa.princeton.edu/alumni/comments/).

Katie Weber '89 married Doug Pflugh in September outside
of Leavenworth, Washington. Katie is a physician and will spend
the next year on a fellowship in Boisie, Idaho. In attendance at the
wedding were Katie's brother Jeff Weber '90, John Leslie '90,
Ted Polubinski '92 and Grace Offut '91, Torrey McMillan '96, Liz
White '91, and Marcia Witte '90.

Eric Tilenius '90 writes that he is trying to recover from
"Internet start-up workaholism" (ISW) and welcomes other ISW's in the
San Francisco area to join him in taking a day off now and then to hike
in the beautiful bay area (eric@tilenius.com).

Anne Sherwood '92 writes that she is still living in
Bozeman, Montana where she works as a photojournalist. She recently
returned from a climbing and skiing expedition in the Fairweather Range
in Alaska where she accomplished many first ascents and
descents. Any alumni passing through Bozeman should look Ann up.

Barbara Merz '96 spent the summer volunteering as a backcountry patrol ranger
in Denali National Park in Alaska. She wrote that the wildflowers were all in
bloom and the park was gorgeous.

Ponderosa Lodging

Lodging is rooms with 4-8 single person bunks with bath or 4-6 person cabins
(twin beds) with bath. We will assign families to rooms based on size, couples
based on class year, and singles based on gender and class year. Please let
us know your lodging preference and anyone to house you with: ____________________________________________________________________________________

Meals - Ponderosa & Climb/Barbecue

Please tell us your food needs/preferences and for how many people in your
party:

Red Meat _____ Chicken/Fish _____ Vegetarian
_____ Vegan _____

Transportation to/from the Ponderosa Lodge

We are providing shuttle service from the Denver airport to the Ponderosa
Lodge on Tuesday, 7/10 at 3:00 PM, you will need to be at the airport by 2:30
PM. The shuttle takes about 3½ hours and will arrive at the Ponderosa in
time for dinner on Tuesday evening. The shuttle will leave for the airport on
Sunday, July 15 at 8:30 AM. Do not book departing flights until 1:30
PM or later.